Big MegaPixel Canon Camera Refresh

So, in my earlier discussions and thoughts on the Canon 70D (My Next Camera: Canon 70D), I as pretty certain that the camera would come out with a 18MP sensor, like the 60D, T5i, and SL1, but Canon Rumors has just posted that they’ve been hearing chatter that the Canon 70D might have a larger megapixel sensor so that they are seen as industry leading once again. It looks like the comments I received on my previous post might be right and Canon could be worried about what Nikon has been doing. Are we going to see a new megapixel race again?

A different source says there are 3 different sensors currently in development, all of which are above the 35mp pixel count. Canon is apparently quite motivated to make industry leading sensors again, as we should see some of that in the EOS 7D Mark II and perhaps even the 70D in the summer.

I am hopeful that we do get a high megapixel body as it would allow amateurs like myself more options for cropping, while still having enough pixels to get nice prints done. My worry of course is that a big jump in the number of pixels doesn’t make for a better sensor, or cleaner images, and then there is dealing with bigger RAW files that are already eating through my hard drive space like nobodies business.

I guess we have to see if the Canon 70D gets this new sensor, but the question is “will we see the Canon 70D this year or next?”